A young Palestinian girl expressed her belief that “the Jews killed Arafat” last week on the official Palestinian Authority TV children’s program Children’s Talk. Her father had taught her that “Arafat wanted to fight in order to free Palestine, and suddenly the Jews killed him and he died as a Martyr,” she said. The TV host immediately confirmed this to be true:

Official PA TV host: “What do you know about Yasser Arafat? You were not born yet when he died as a Martyr (Shahid). Did your father tell you a lot about him?

Girl: “Yes.”

Official PA TV host: “Very nice. What did he tell you about him?

Girl: “Yasser Arafat wanted to fight in order to free Palestine, and suddenly the Jews killed him and he died as a Martyr.”

Official PA TV host: “My dear, may Allah have mercy on his soul and on the souls of all our Martyrs. It is happening at the moment to all of our Martyrs. But he [Arafat] was the leader and the symbol... Yasser Arafat is a legend, a special man. His wish was to die as a Martyr, and he did indeed die as a Martyr. However, when the occupation understood that he would not give up on his great dream, which was the liberation of Palestine, unfortunately they killed him.”

For years, the PA has been reiterating the PA libel that Israel murdered Arafat. Some versions of this libel have even implicated the US, claiming that Israel conspired with the US to kill Arafat, or that the US gave its approval of the plan. However, in March 2015, three French judges ruled that "it has not been demonstrated that Mr. Yasser Arafat was murdered by polonium-210 poisoning." The French prosecutor stated that there was "not sufficient evidence of an intervention by a third party who could have attempted to take his life." [France 24, Sept. 2, 2015] The French prosecutor also explained that the polonium and lead found in Arafat’s grave were “of an environmental nature.” [Jerusalem Post, March 17, 2015] Despite these results denying any poisoning, the PA continues to blame Israel for Arafat’s death without any proof or backing for this claim.

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Palestinian children believe this libel and that the PA wants to reinforce it. Several years in a row, PA TV broadcast a video showing Palestinian kids talking about Arafat, including many statements of hate speech against Jews in which the children repeated that “the Jews killed Arafat”:

Girl 1: "I say that he [Arafat] died from poisoning by the Jews. That's what I say."

Girl 2: "He [Arafat] was our former president. He was under siege in Ramallah, and when he was under siege we were very upset. The Jews poisoned him and I hate them very much. Allah will repay them what they deserve."

Boy 1: "He [Arafat] died from poisoning by the Jews. Well, I don't know what he died from, but I know it was by the Jews."

Boy 2: "They destroyed his whole house and he was left in one room and in the end the Jews poisoned him and blamed someone else."

These videos of children’s hate speech against Jews originally aired on Nov. 10, 2009, the fifth anniversary of Arafat's death. PA TV chose to rebroadcast them on many subsequent anniversaries of Arafat's death, on Nov. 10, 2010, Nov. 11, 2011, and Nov. 11, 2012. In 2013, the PA TV children’s program Best Home hosted by today’s host of Children’s Talk, Walaa Battat, incorporated the kids’ hate speech against Jews into its program as well.

The libel that Israel killed Arafat was also repeated recently by Fatah Central Committee member Amal Hamad, who explained that then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “besieged” and “acted against” Arafat and then “poisoned him.” [Official PA TV, Jan. 1, 2016] Hamad hinted that Israel might be planning to harm Abbas because “the same manner and style of speech is being used today against President Mahmoud Abbas.”

The following is a longer excerpt of Fatah Central Committee member Amal Hamad’s accusation that then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon murdered Arafat:

Fatah Central Committee member Amal Hamad: “When Yasser Arafat said no [to Israeli proposals], Sharon said about him that there is no partner for peace, and decided to get rid of Yasser Arafat. Therefore, he used the means at his disposal. First he entered the Muqata’a, in the second stage he besieged Yasser Arafat, and in the third stage he acted against him and poisoned him, and Yasser Arafat died as a Martyr (Shahid). The same manner and style of speech is being used today against President Mahmoud Abbas.”

[Official PA TV, Jan. 1, 2016]

Intilaqa - "The Launch" of Fatah on Jan. 1, 1965, when it carried out its first terror attack against Israel, attempting to bomb Israel's National Water Carrier.